Daily Archives: February 13, 2013

Alisha and I just held Colorado’s 1st Adoptee Connect Event. Heritage Camps For Adoptive Families co-sponsored with us to provide this unique opportunity. This event was coordinated to connect teen adoptees with adult adoptees; to provide a deeper sense of community and positive identity as adoptees. To sum it up: AMAZING!!! The amount of responses we received for this event was overwhelming. To my surprise, we received direct emails from teen adoptees who wanted to RSVP not only for themselves, but for their siblings and/or friends who were also adopted.

Despite the little snow storm this past Saturday, we had 37 adoptees come together representing 11 countries and ranging in age from 13 – 19. It was like seeing the “United Nations of Adoptees”, yay! Hand-selected adult adoptees led discussions on various topics (i.e., Dating/Relationships, Managing Your Emotions, College Life, Inspirational Adoption Stories, Interviews/Jobs, etc.) and we had the teens float to any table topic they wanted to throughout the evening. Conversations inspired, provided insight and created a trusted environment for adoptees to build connections. Hyper-bonding is what we call it when adoptees get to spend time together. It’s an unspoken connection we vibe off of to be able to interact with one another. It’s simply magic!

Feedback has been incredible with both parents (on behalf of their teens) and teens emailing with comments like “I LOVED it!” “Please do this again next year!” “My teen could not stop talking about this event, she had a blast!” “I loved being around my fellow adoptees!!!” This warms our hearts and motivates us in this life-long commitment to the adoption community, or as we like to call you all…our extended family. 🙂